Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Loci and Candidate Genes for Body Composition and Meat Quality Traits in Beijing-You Chickens

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061172
• Publication Date: 2013-04-18T21:13:18Z
• Authors: Ranran Liu; Yanfa Sun; Guiping Zhao; Fangjie Wang; Dan Wu; Maiqing Zheng; Jilan Chen; Lei Zhang; Yaodong Hu; Jie Wen
• Keywords: Genome-wide Association Study; Intramuscular fat; Candidate gene; Genetic Association

Body composition and meat quality traits are important economic of chickens. The development high-throughput genotyping platforms relevant statistical methods have enabled genome-wide association studies in In order to identify molecular markers candidate genes associated with body traits, were conducted using the Illumina 60 K SNP Beadchip genotype 724 Beijing-You For each bird, a total 16 measured, including carcass weight (CW), eviscerated (EW), dressing percentage, breast muscle (BrW) percentage (BrP), thigh abdominal fat dry matter intramuscular contents muscle, ultimate pH, shear force pectoralis major at 100 d age. SNPs that significantly phenotypic identified both simple (GLM) compressed mixed linear (MLM) models. nine ten studied, showing genome wide significance (P<2.59E−6) been identified. A consistent region on chicken (Gallus gallus) chromosome 4 (GGA4), seven significant four (LCORL, LAP3, LDB2, TAPT1), found be CW EW. Another 0.65 Mb GGA3 for BrW BrP was After measuring mRNA content beast five located this region, changes GJA1 expression across development. It is highly possible functional gene several reaching suggestive their functions discussed.